Author Archives: bww5210

Did you know that after Ghana gained its independence in 1957, education became the political main objective? Because of this, it led to many changes, strengthening the education system. Not only that, but also provided Ghana with higher education. BBC news once stated, “Ghana is endowed with a good education system”. Hmm we wonder why? That’s because when you hear the word education you think of the undergoing of learning, where you attain knowledge, skills, and experiences, that you could eventually use to help advance yourself in the future. Well Ghana on the other hand, although they believe in the formal practice of education, but they also had their own targets.

Ghana current education operates on 6-3-3-4 systems. That means six years of primary education, three years of junior secondary school, three years of senior secondary school, and four years of a college university. The primary language for their teachings is English. By the 1950’s there was approximately 3,000 primary and secondary schools. Amongst the 4.2 million population of Ghana, 6.6 percent of the total population attended school.

Well at what age do children start schooling? Throughout most of the rural areas of Ghana, children start school at an early age, as early as 4 to 6 years old and on. But do you think all children have the opportunity to attend school. There are some areas where things run a little bit differently. Unfortunately, in the rural areas located in the Upper Manya District of the eastern region, children cannot attend school until the age of nine. And even when they turned the age of nine, only if they were capable of traveling two hours everyday to school, then they will be able to attend. That’s because along their journey to school, the roads were very bad and had huge potholes. So to ensure the safety of the child, they would not be able to attend school, unless seen as a child who could travel safely without any injuries.

-This here is an image of school built in one of the villages located in the rural areas. A non profit organization called the EbbyMay foundation was nice enough to provide them with a building of schooling. It’s made up of bamboo sticks and mud. If you look closely you see the desk and chairs.

But less about that, let’s get back to the good stuff. In the early generations, the first nine years of schooling was free of charge, but afterwards money was required for students to learn. Well remember Dr. Kwame Nkruma, the man who helped lead Ghana’s independence from Britain. In 1961 he initiated an act to promote free primary education for Ghanaian’s. The act was called The 1961 Education Act. Because of him, once again taking a leadership role in the country, education became free of charge for the whole 16 years.

They even get the advantage of being awarded money when enrolling into universities in the United States. Each year new students are enrolled, five million dollars in financial assistance, is given to them. Could you just imagine what that covers? That’s basically their cost of attendance, books, food, transportation, and any other expenses. Also, about 2,863 Ghanaians are enrolled into 600 institutions throughout all fifty states of America. Not to mention, that most of them are even accepted into credible and competitive universities.

-Here’s an image of two Ghana students learning in school. I like this image because it represent similar values compared to my experience in school. You see the one on one experience children have with the teachers, in order to help them understand what they are learning clearer.

Now see, I never questioned how the education system in Ghana would be. Also, I never had any thought of it as well. Going to a diverse university, such as Penn State, I happened to come across a few individuals from the country Africa itself. Even met a girl from the state Ghana as well. Getting to know about their education system as a whole, I see it’s not much different then mines. But I also was able discover slight differences compared to my experience with schooling. For example, just to know that children in certain villages of rural areas cannot attend school due to bad roadways left me feeling sympathy for them. Especially because I was granted the opportunity to walk to school on nicely paved roads or catch transportation. In due time, I hope the government can fix those issues or have fix those issues, because every child shall be entitled to a education no matter what!

We’ll see we know Ghana was the first country to gain independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. But do we know the person behind this great mark in Ghana’s nation history? A man by Kwame, Nkrumah, was a revolutionary figure that helped lead Ghana throughout the whole process of gaining its own independence. But before I get to the how’s and what he had done, let’s get to know who he was and where he came from.

Kwame Nkrumah was born 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast. From 1925-1935, he studied to be a teacher at the school of Achimota located in Accra. Afterwards, he served as teacher in multiple schools within the Gold Coast. While working, Kwame saved his money in order to further his education in the United States of America. In 1935 he made his way to London, where he then received his student visa from the “American Embassy”. For those who may not know, a citizen of foreign country must obtain a visa in order to enter the United States. Since Kwame wanted to study in the U.S this was needed upon his entrance

In late 1935, Kwame was touched by the news he heard of the “Invasion of Abyssinia by fascist Italy”. This motivated him to seeking a political career. In October 1935, Kwame finally reached the United States, where he then attended Lincoln University, later receiving his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in 1939. But wait, Kwame was not done with his education, and wanted to pursue more. In 1942, he earned his Bachelor of Scared Theology, then his Master of Science degree at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1942, lastly his Masters of Arts degree in Philosophy.Very educated right? Not to mention over the course of his studies, he was very involved with the school, and was elected president of the “African Students Organization”. Kwame even preached at churches, read books about politics, and tutored students in philosophy.

Now that we know a little about his early life, lets see how his astonishing education led him to being looked upon as Ghana’s revolutionary figure!

In 1947, Kwame was invited to serve as the General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention. This political convention explored new ways to independence.   Kwame took upon the offer, becoming the Secretary. During the time of his title, he was arrested because of the government suspected him and his fellow organization members to be victims of protests on March 12, 1948. Upon his release, Kwame figured the Gold Coast needed their own “self governance”. After just taking matters into his own hands, Kwame built a larger power base. However, he did not stop there and kept making changes.

The Gold Coast was the wealthiest and most socially advanced area of Africa. Rather than allowing British colonies to take over what wasn’t theirs, Kwame stood up for his and his countries own. His promotion of Pan Africanism was strong as well. On July 10 1953, Kwama proposal “Motion of Destiny” to the assembly, requesting independence from the British Commonwealth was approved. Later in 1957, on March 3^rd, Ghana independence was declared.

 Kwame fight for Ghana’s independence was not that easy. He had to learn to do many things such as governing, uniting, and standing up for what he believed. But because he was highly educated and an opportunist, it allowed him to prosper not only his personal goals, but also the rights of Ghana. His tools of teachings, writings, knowledge on politics and philosophy, allowed his advocacy as well too. No to mention that he was also inspired by the writings of well-known black political leaders such as W.E.B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and George Padmore as well as the relationships he shared with them. Under Kwame leadership, Ghana adopted socialist policies and practices, a welfare system was created, new schools were built within the communities, and lastly a host of community programs were created.

But I’m going to just end it with this. Philosophy is being able to see the world with new eyes. Let’s just say Kwame was a clear example. Kwame had that power to open Ghana citizen’s eyes to real world, and the existence of their own country. Without him do you think Ghana’s nation would have been first gain their independence? That’s something we cannot answer. But what we could say is that Kwame was the first president of Ghana’s country, who contributed towards their independence, symbolizing him as a revolutionary figure!

During the 15^th and 16^th century, Europeans began to think things out differently. Compared to other countries, they decided they wanted to hold absolute power of the world. Europeans began to explore and seek ways to make their want possible. As time went by, in the 19^th century the Europeans began to establish their presence in Africa . Trade routes in Africa made it possible for this to occur. Most Africans countries fought to try and resist control of their countries and societies by the Europeans imperialists, but unfortunately they failed to comply. A contributing factor was technologies of warfare used between the forces of both countries. African forces fought with more hand made weapons such as bows, arrows, spears, swords, axes, and some deadly arms including old rifles, and artillery guns. As opposed to Europeans forces who fought with machine guns, rifles, and artillery guns. The. Unfortunately, by the early 1900’s, Africa (excluding Ethiopia and Liberia), was colonized by European countries France, Britain, Germany Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

-Here’s a map of the Europeans control of Africa,  also known as the “Scramble for Africa”.

On the other hand, European also took control of the Americas. It all started around 100 a.d when the Vikings sailed from the British Isles to Greenland to establish their own colony. In 1492, a guy by the name of Christopher Columbus sailed to a country, in which he claimed to be his own discovery. The country was said to be “The Americas”. Since the Europeans landed there, they began to colonize the, area, expanding their living, calling the newfound country one of their own. Europeans families born there became the first citizens of the Americas. Small cities began being built and new towns were created. Americas was then known as the country Europeans took over.

-“When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas”

As you can see, both the United States and Africa were colonies of the Europeans. This brings me to thought of imperialism. With Europeans use of military forces, they were able to colonize, extending their country’s power, in order to try and have total control of the world. How do I feel about this? No country should be able to have complete control over another. Especially not because they are more advanced then others.

In my opinion, back in the earliest century, countries had different mindsets as compared to now. For example, Africa was known to have all the goods such as gold, good soil, spices, herbs, land, and much more. Because of this, I felt that’s why the Europeans decided they wanted to come and take over something that was not theirs. Europeans knew colonizing Africa would increase their trade and economy. I believe Africans were nice and giving, and when they were approached by the Europeans, they thought to help them out, rather then to see them do bad. But instead Europeans had other intentions, which lead them to do otherwise. It’s not fair that they abused Africans niceness, taking total control of them. In today’s society, countries hold power through their government. Everything is done equally, and citizens of the country choose leaders through votes. I also believe the lack of education could have possibly played a role in imperialism as well. I say this because if the Africans had the knowledge to read the Europeans minds, they would have known what they were up too. Although Europeans had technological advancements when it came to weapons, education could have helped the Africans use their mind to the full ability. They could have also discovered new ways to prevent another country from having total control of them. This goes for the Americas as well. Since the Europeans figured they were the first to discover the land, they took matter into their own hands. Only because they knew they had what it took to hold absolute power over another country.

Slavery played a big part in the earliest centuries as well, especially Africa. Million of slaves would be exported to different countries for goods. Goods such as gold, ivory, textiles, and much more. Slavery is a forced labor where individuals are forced to work under conditions by leaders who hold absolute power. Did I like the existence of slavery back in the past? No, and I wished I could have done something about it. I feel as if no person should be forced to work under the pressure of someone else. Especially, they should not be beaten, abused, and punished for not doing their work properly, or not doing enough work. I believe everyone is entitled to fair treatment when something is needed from him or her. Individuals known as slaves, had families to provide for. How could they provide if they are being used for their services and not being paid for? And if they were being paid, it was little to no money, barely making ends meet for their families. This brings me to what’s going on in today’s world. I wouldn’t say slavery doesn’t exist at all because I’m not quite sure. But what I would say is moderate slavery still exists, instead I call it a “job” or “career”. Most of us work, and we work just to provide for families, our own needs, and life in general. Some get paid hourly and some get paid salary. However, I feel as if some people still don’t get paid the amount of the money they deserved based off the work they put forward. Although some jobs use technologies, it’s still a hand on job where individuals take their time out to do. I feel as if the only way a worker gets the paid the right amount of money they deserve is when they are the owner or manger of the company, someone who is in charge. This related back to the Europeans having control over the Americas and Africans. Why because it’s still a person holding power over an individual, in which the individual has to respect. For example, in today’s society, we can’t tell our boss, manager, or supervisor, no when we don’t want to do something. Although now we are entitled to rights as a worker, it’s still things we can and cannot do.

Gold, Gold, Gold!  Yup that’s what Ghana was known for. The kingdom of Ghana was so rich, that even there animals were too. During the 9^th and 11^th centuries (C.E) of Ghana, dogs wore golden collars. Not to mention, horses slept on fancy plush carpets. Now that’s just the animals, imagine what Ghana’s kings were. All I’m going to say is pretty rich! With Ghana being wealthy in gold, they became a leading force in the trans-Saharan trade network.

Ghana was the first nation to gain its own independence. An African nationalists named Kwame Nkrumah had helped Ghana fight for their independence as well as their political rights. Kwame was Ghana’s first president and was responsible for the Organization of the Pan-African unity, in 1963 of Ethiopia. The Organization of Pan-African Unity originated from the Pan-African movement. The main goal of the Pan-African movement was to give Africans the idea that they were united as one, eventually helping them to stick and work together. Other efforts such as ending slavery and the slave trade and colonizing Africa was part of it as we’ll. Gladly, in 1807, the Great Britain abolished the African slave trade.

Did you know where the human kind began? Africa was the first continent in which human life began. Well should I say that’s what evidence suggested… Science techniques known as fossil identification, radiocarbon dating, and DNA analysis lead to the discovery of human existence. Fossils are preserved remains that allowed the past life of animals, humans, plants and other organisms to be traced back. Because Africa’s oldest fossil of the early human ancestors was found, the stages of evolution in Africa were able to be discovered. DNA analysis allowed a specific organism to be identified. In this case, a genetic footprint was able to show the generation of Africans, passed down from one to another. Radiocarbon dating age was much of a long process. “Living organisms absorb tiny amounts of carbon from the atmosphere”. With the use of carbon, researchers were able to predict the Age of Africans. Who would think that such things could be done to discover the early life of humans? However, although science techniques led to the history of their existence life, it’s possible for the evidence to not be true.

Influential individuals such as WEB DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and Kwame himself held conferences in order to help make the movement a success. The Organization of the Pan-African unity wanted to dominate European control of the continent, make Africa feel like a comfortable for all people of the African descent, and lastly have all African countries work together to improve each country’s economy. Kwame knew with the use of this, it was possible to strengthen the country’s independence as a whole too.

A ruler in Ghana was known as the king, or the war in chief. Laws coming from a king were legal acts to be followed. According to Ghana’s politics, the king served as the “commander in chief of a highly organized army, the controller of all trade activities, and the head administrator of justice”. Individuals such as ministers, civil servants, counselors, and ministers were assigned by the ruler to help with administrative duties, but the ruler still held dominant power. Very different compared other government’s right? Although the king held absolute power in the Kingdom of Ghana, he still allowed citizens to voice their complaints that they had and then they would be addressed.

Not to mention that Gold played an important role in helping Ghana gain it’s own independence. It open doors to trade, and paved ways for Ghana to improved their advancement in gold. When the king was not reporting to his normal duties, he was spreading trade internationally. Much of Ghana wealth came from Arabs through trade. Islamic merchants would travel to Ghana just to do business with them. Could you believe it took them two months? Yes two whole months! Islamic travelers would be taxed for their imports and exports, better known as a tariff.

Sadly, Ghana Kingdom, the wealthiest, was not wealthy for that long. Competition began arising, bringing forth jealousy, fear, and anger of Ghana’s control. During the mid 11^th a century, a group of Muslim individuals known as Almoravids, invaded Ghana’s capital city Koumbi Saleh. Luckily, with the territories being security protected and taxes being enforced, Ghana was able to make the Muslims withdraw from the takeover. Eventually, about 200 years later, Ghana’s kingdom was defeated and taken over by the nation of Mali. From being cut off form the international trade and weakened from numerous attacks, Ghana had no defense in the takeover. Unfortunately, the nation of Mali became the newly found empire.

P.S here’s two images of “The Golden Stool of the Ashanti Kings of Ghana”.  This symbolized their power.